Experiencing life from the northernmost city of Japan to Japan's third largest city to the southeastern USA to Tokyo!

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Countup - 4 nights!

Four nights to go until the big departure! Today was a pretty busy day filled with running errands and taking care of tasks that need to be handled before I leave, like acquiring yen (or at least resuming the process), picking up pictures, getting an eye exam and new glasses, working on blecky paperwork, and making sure that my debit card is activated for use overseas. And, of course, deciding what to wear on the Tokyo flight. After all, one wants to be comfortable, but one does not want to look like a bum. Especially considering that when one deplanes in Tokyo, one will be lucky not to feel like one was run over by said plane.

I was thinking about the flight to Tokyo recently and how weird it would be to be a regular Joe on a flight full of JETs. How long will it take the regular Joes to realize what is going on? Will it be obvious that we are all traveling together, or will the regular Joes just wonder why everyone they ask is going to be an ALT in Japan. It looks like there are a few seats left, if anyone would like to come to Japan! I wonder which seat is mine? With my luck, it will probably be over a wing! Or the seat right smack in the middle of the center group of five seats.

Well, earlier this evening I unloaded my suitcases so I could repack them. I was amazed at the volume of clothes I had jammed in those suitcases! I really didn't think I'd packed that much. Now I have to jam all the stuff back in the suitcases. I'm trying to get it done tonight - the dog is not happy with me packing in the living room. My new strategy is to pack the heavier stuff in the smaller suitcase and the lighter stuff in the bigger suitcase. This way, they will hopefully balance out to 50 pounds each. By the way, it's really hard to weigh a giant suitcase on a bathroom scale.

4 comments:

Did you doublecheck on that 50 pound limit on your suitcases? last time I traveled overseas, the US had one limit, and Europe had another that was less, and they stuck to it!! so make sure the non-American part of your flight allows that much weight.

and for weighing the big bags, I just step on the scale, and then step on again holding the bag, and then subtract my weight . . but you probably already figured that out!!

I think you should park yourself in a seat next to a "regular Joe" and let him/her talk with you in Japanese for the whole 13 hours. What a course that would be! Yes, I specifically did not use the adjective "crash" in front of "course"!!

I like your idea of whipping out the offending obese clothes and wearing them onto the plane! Then piling them in a heap at your feet after you are airborn---ahhhhhh instant free pillows and blankets and sneeze shelters!!!